A Saudi cleric has warned women that drive cars that they could cause damage to their ovaries and pelvises and pregnant women could put their unborn children at risk of "clinical problems."
Sheikh Saleh Al-Loheidan's claims have gone viral as protesters claim a website telling women to challenge their country's driving ban has been blocked in Saudi Arabi, according to CNN.
"If a woman drives a car, it could have a negative physiological impact," said Al-Loheidan told Saudi news website sabq.org in an interview. "Medical studies show that it would automatically affect a woman's ovaries and that it pushes the pelvis upward."
The current ban on women driving is not backed by a law, but only men are allowed driving licenses. Women can and have been fined for driving without a license, and have been detained and put on trial recently "on charges of political protest" according to Reuters.
He did not cite specific medical studies to support his arguments.
"This is his answer to the campaign," Saudi women's rights activist Aziza Yousef said to CNN. "But it is an individual opinion. The clerical establishment is not behind this."
Since being published online a little over a week ago, a petition on the website www.oct26driving.com gained over 12,000 signatures from those asking officials in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to end the ban.
The petition is urging the Saudi government to present "citizens a valid and legal justification" for the ban and to not blame it on "societal consensus."
"There is no justification for the Saudi government to prohibit adult women citizens who are capable of driving cars from doing so," the petition says.
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